Time management advice from a bestselling author…

Reading time: Less than 1 minute

This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world to find websites, books and articles to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about Tim Ferriss….

I am neither a Tim Ferriss fan, nor one of his many detractors. I do, however, admire his marketing chutzpah and his efficiency. The author of the 4-Hour Workweek, the 4-Hour Body and the 4-Hour Chef, has played his cards right and built himself a career as a bestselling author.

Can he write? Well enough, I think. I’ve read the 4-Hour Workweek and found it both interesting and entertaining, although I don’t believe for a minute that he works only four hours per week. Does he have anything useful to say? Only moderately useful, I suspect. But the entertainment value he offers is probably more than enough to satisfy most readers.

I recently discovered that the Lifehacker blog has launched a feature called “This is How I Work” and the very first one I read belonged to Tim Ferris (yes, I noticed that it’s a couple of years old). Here’s the portion I zeroed in on: his recommendation for saving time. This is what he said.

Use RescueTime to block off all social media sites and email for 90-120 minutes first thing in the morning. Focus on your most important one or two to-dos. If processing email on Gmail later, use The Email Game to double speed.

I’m not addicted to social media sites so I don’t need a tool like Rescue Time. But I do have difficulty managing my email and the Email Game sounds like an interesting and useful app. I bet many other writers feel the same way. Thank you, Tim Ferriss!

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